


Lack Of Luck

by oRpheusB20



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Although It's Consistently Sad Chapters 2-6, Child Whom Feels Very Unloved For A Chunk Of The Story, Gen, Inner Voice That Doesn't Know If It's Looking Out For Marie Or Wants Her Dead, Marie Swears A Lot In The Middle, Most Of The Characters Come In At Chapter 7, Named Agents (They Still Go By Agents Sometimes Though), One That Got Out Of Control, Orphaned Child, Self-Esteem Issues, So It May Have A Tone Problem, Sorry Fans Of The Other Children, Written Entirely On A Whim
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-01 08:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18332219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oRpheusB20/pseuds/oRpheusB20
Summary: At four, she and her cousin were orphaned. At eight, she was left all alone. At 17, someone dares to claim they care.Marie doesn't know how to take any of this. The best she can do is try to hold herself together and hope that she isn't being lied to.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this first chapter is really just a cute children being cute deal. Partly for set up, partly because the original opening I wrote was maybe 500 words at best before I suddenly went on an expansion kick. The second chapter is more closely tied to the story title.

Gentle morning rays hit the eyelids of a tiny sleeping squid. With a soft whine, the small form shifted down, under the protection of her soft sheets. Her mother had not woken her prior to the sun getting high enough in the sky to get into her room; therefore today was not an important day. It was a good thing, too. She felt like she hadn’t caught any sleep at all. In fact, she probably hadn’t gotten to sleep until it was almost sunrise. The remnants of a harsh illness still ate at her despite her parents attempting to make her comfortable enough to sleep at least most of the night. Even if it was a day that they would normally do some sort of activity, it seemed that she was being allowed to rest some more.

It was with this in mind that she curled a little tighter into herself, waited for a weak cough to pass, and allowed the warm embrace of darkness to swallow her again.

“Marie! Wake up!”

The peace was not to last, it seemed. A body much the size of her own bounced up onto the bed, landing on top of the sleepy child resting there. She gasped as the weight aided by velocity knocked into her and drove the wind from her body. Her sheets were ripped from her body, exposing her skin to the freezing outside air and her eyes to the sun.

Despite her assailant’s desperate shaking and calls, Marie didn’t move for some time, trying to get over the many factors that left her moaning in pain.

Why, oh why, Marie lamented through the pain of being landed upon, were those joyful golden eyes staring at her with such expectation on a day like today?

“Callie,” she eventually grunted. The older squid went silent immediately, eagerly awaiting what else would come from the mouth of her best friend. “Get. Off. Of me.”

Callie laughed sheepishly. “Oh, sorry!” She slipped off the bed, rapidly changing between her bright pink squid form and bipedal kid form for a couple of moments as she literally vibrated in excitement. The funny little quirk never failed to make Marie smile despite any situation that would normally make her frown, which was usually a rude awakening like today. When Marie sat up and tested her hurt limbs, feeling another small cough force its way through her sore throat, Callie stopped her swift transformations and tried to tug her cousin off of the bed. Marie was still coming to terms with the world around her and offered little resistance, although her body was weak from sleep and illness and she ended up nearly falling face first onto the ground instead of securely planting her feet.

Moaning, Marie tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes the best she could while being dragged down the stairs. Their parents were sitting at the table, having a pleasant sounding conversation, but paused when they saw their children.

Marie’s mother bit back a laugh. “Callie… I told you to not disturb her!” Despite the stern words, she couldn’t help but giggle a little at the sheer energy of her sister’s offspring.

“But Aunty, I wanted to play with her!” Callie protested, tugging Marie just a little further.

“Honey,” the older cousin’s father gently chided, “do you remember what we told you on the way here? She had a long night.”

Callie looked back to her yawning cousin sadly. “But…”

“No buts,” the mother of the oldest said with a soft but still strict voice as the younger’s father retrieved his child.

Marie went limp in his arms almost immediately but moaned when he started climbing the stairs. “No… I wanna…” She trailed off sleepily, but the message was across.

The plea was enough for her dad to take pity on her, even though they all knew she wasn’t going to be awake long enough for it to matter. He hugged her close in understanding, swaying for a moment before changing destinations. He sat down on the couch instead, using one hand to wrap a blanket around her shoulders before he kissed her forehead and returned his hand to her back, pressing firmly and lovingly. This added just enough pressure to be a comfort and successfully lull his precious squid to sleep.

* * *

The next awakening was far gentler than the previous. Her consciousness decided at random when to stir, and that, as it seemed, was the middle of the night. She shifted a little and whined when she realized that she was hungry. Incredibly so.

Of course, that’s what happens when you can’t stomach dinner and never got any breakfast.

Something draped across her stomach shifted and a voice next to her ear moaned. “Marie? You alright?”

The sound of her older cousin’s concern was nice. She wasn’t alone at least, though that did mean that she would be keeping another awake while she suffered. Last night, she had pretended to fall asleep so that her parents could go to bed; she had just enough will amidst the sickness-induced haze to feel bad about their ruined sleep schedules and subsequently pretend to be fine until they left the room. But Callie sleeping next to her…

Ultimately, she wasn’t going to put much thought into it. She was tired and hungry.

“You want some dinner?” Callie offered. The sound of this perked Marie right up, and she nodded eagerly. Callie smiled broadly. “You slept right through lunch. Aunty said she didn’t have the heart to wake you after last night. The adults were going to have dinner while I took a nap with you and then finally wake you up.”

Marie blinked and looked around. It wasn’t night after all, it just looked like it because there were curtains over the windows, the door was shut, and the light was off. She grunted a little and pushed herself into a seated position, yawning and stretching.

Callie, always a bundle of never-ending energy, jumped up and said, “I’ll go tell the adults!” And then she was gone.

Left in the darkness and now silence, a part of Marie called for her to lie back down and to pass out again. Her stomach would not allow if this, though, and soon she was stumbling into the dining room while Callie was mid-story.

“Ah, speak of the devilfish,” one of the fathers said. Who exactly it was, Marie wasn’t sure; she was blinded from light and too tired to try and tell the difference in the voice. She just knew it was too deep to be either of the mothers.

Strong arms scooped up the stumbling squid and a gentle voice, her mother, she vaguely realized, asked, “Hungry, love?”

Marie hummed an affirmative and nuzzled her face into the crook of her mom’s shoulder in a vain attempt to block out the light. A couple of minutes pass in a haze and the next thing she knew, she was sitting in her father’s lap while her mother gently coaxed soup into her mouth. A content look grew on her face now that both rest and sustenance existed in normal proportions within her body.

“How are you feeling, dear?” Her uncle asked, crouching to look her in the eye.

“Better,” she murmured. She moved a little in a half stretch and glanced this way and that. “Where’s Callie?”

“Outside with your Aunt Dara. You want to go and say hi to them?”

Marie nodded and was dutifully carried out the back door.

Callie, at that moment, was being taught to throw a Frisbee. The three adults and one four-year old came out just in time to see her fling the disk straight into a bush.

“More wrist, less arm!” Dara told her as she ran to get the wayward disk.

Callie had a small pout on her face as she leaned over to get her Frisbee, a look that vanished at the sight of her cousin. She abandoned the disk and made for the small group. “Marie!” She stopped at her uncle’s feet and began that funny little quick transformation dance until her cousin was placed on the ground, at which point she tackled her into a hug.

Marie yelped and toppled over onto her father’s feet. She had anticipated a hug, but could never remember how much strength Callie held in her small form until she used it. She found herself looking up at the adults while Callie rambled about this or that. One smile and a gentle shove to get her older cousin off assured the grownups that she was more or less fine, and pretty soon she was learning to throw a Frisbee as well.

Too bad she was abysmal at it. It was the first time in about a week that she had been well enough to get out and do something, though, so she was more than happy regardless. By the time that her mother called off the activities, she could almost get it flying in a vaguely straight line, although it was nothing compared to their parents’ easy, accurate tosses.

She and Callie were put to bed together soon after. The pink squid crashed hard, something Marie assumed she did every day since their frequent sleepovers always ended like this. The gentle snores of her cousin were something of a lullaby for the younger child, and she happily allowed it to sing her to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just one of those things that I decided to write on a whim. So if it suddenly stops, don't be surprised. It just got really far, some 27,000 words.  
> BTW, I have no idea how to use Ao3; this is my first time using it and it's weird. So if the formatting ever implodes, that's why.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was ~2000 words. And then I went back, edited, added, subtracted, and just accidentally doubled the total. And I would probably do it again if I wasn't putting it on the web.

"Callie!" The orphanage worker called. "Callie, where are you?"

"Here!" The bright young squid announced, bouncing over.

Marie stared wistfully from her place on the grass as her cousin simply got up and bounced away mid-conversation with little more than a quick goodbye. Callie almost never gave a second thought to leaving her any time that the workers called with another couple going through children they considered adopting. It wasn't surprising behavior, really, because she never looked back and saw the sad expression Marie made in reply. It stung, but honestly at this point the younger child was getting used to it. It happened quite a lot, because Callie was the happy child, not actively showing the effects of the incident that took their parents like her younger cousin. Oh, in the dead of night, Callie would cry for mom. Quite often, in fact. Marie had learned to snap awake at a moment's notice to save her cousin before she suffered too much (or wake someone else). Callie would cry on her for a bit, but calm down soon after. Never once had she actually awakened during any of these moments, only waking up to a very tired child curling around her as she tried to get some rest, probably coming to the conclusion that she was the one suffering nightmares. And an unfortunate consequence of this was that this was actually something she was used to seeing now, and so she didn't even ask or look at the bags under her eyes with even much concern anymore, just like she no longer questioned why the younger one was almost always cuddling her in the morning. In fact, no one showed much concern. She was just generally accepted as always tired and barely able to function and it was left at that.

Part of her really wanted to report these nightmares to the adults, partly for the selfish reason of just wanting to be able to sleep through the night for once in this miserable section of her life, but feared that the knowledge would crush Callie. The older squid probably thought that she was doing really well regarding the loss of their parents, probably believed that she was being the stronger squid, offering support to her younger cousin. She wouldn't be completely wrong with that line of thought, either; Marie was leaning pretty heavily on Callie just to be there as the singular constant in her life, though she didn't demand anything more than this, and in fact was careful to not display her reliance in case that placed unreasonable pressure on Callie. Mostly, she just held onto that bright optimism and refused to risk it in possible way. Her primary logic was selfish and she knew it, and soon after realizing this fact, she started telling herself that in actuality what she cared about was that Callie had a chance to be wanted by someone. Thusly, Marie could not dare to inform her of her nightmares lest she become depressed and lose opportunities to find that someone. Eventually, she even started to believe it, even though she knew that when that someone came by and took Callie away, she would be crushed, returning to the only half alive state she remained in for months after losing her parents. And now that her social position within the orphanage was cemented, she wasn't sure how she would survive.

The younger squid knew that she wasn't wanted herself. The bags under her eyes and the lethargy that the constant midnight wake ups caused made her undesirable. And like hell she would push that fate upon Callie by allowing her smile to disappear. Marie didn't exactly want new parents, unlike her cousin, for fear that she would forget what little she remembered about the precious people that had given her life and happiness her first four years, so being left out wasn't technically a bad thing. But in the back of her mind, she knew full well that Callie was oblivious to her cousin's suffering. After somewhat recovering from the pain of losing the majority of her family, she perked up, got some new friends, and overall succeeded in returning to being a normal child. Marie was happy for her, obviously; she never wanted to see a frown on the other girl's face ever again, but that came with the downside of being left with no one to cry to, lest it dampen Callie's mood and cause the one thing she wanted to avoid. And when Callie was gone, because of course she would be picked up by some happy pair soon, then the bubble of energy that pushed the younger squid onwards wouldn't be there to do just that.

To be fair, though, it's not like Callie's continued presence in her life was an automatic bubble of protection against the ill effects of her hurt. It was helpful in grounding her, yes, but it wasn't, couldn't be a cure-all. She was only just barely maintaining something resembling a passing grade in school, mostly getting 1s and 2s, with an occasional 3 if the older cousin had the time to help out. She often didn't, though, between chores and her own homework, as well as taking time to play and being seen by potential families.

Marie took in a deep breath before letting it go slowly and pulling herself away from her thoughts, pushing herself to her feet. What she really wanted to do in this moment was flop onto her back and stare at the clouds for the rest of the day. Or sleep. Or maybe stare at the clouds until she fell asleep. It was a nice day for that one, actually; the sun was high in the sky, but wasn't giving off a scalding heat, there was a gentle breeze, the clouds were soft and fluffy, showing no signs of an impending rainstorm, and the ground she stood upon was nice, warm, and dry, making it idle for a lie down. But she knew that none of her preferred ways to spend her free time were an option. Because Callie was gone now, if she didn't get up and at least try to do her homework, the workers would give her something to do, which was significantly less preferable.

It was only when Callie was around that she was allowed any noticeable amount of free time. Otherwise, they wanted her busy. This was something they did to all of the undesired children, and as an outsider being shuffled into the inside, she could see that her status was more than just a depressing title. The older kids with a similar rank as her always were noticeably behind the others. They were, on the whole, shorter, more unkempt, rowdy, sometimes even outright violent, and usually got poor grades. Only once, a year ago, did she ever talk with one of those on the same social level as her, as they were all rather asocial creatures and only talked if absolutely necessary or became close through what was probably a complicated series of events. The kid in question had likely been somewhere in high school from his height and a face that had seen far too many fights growing up judging from the scars, a large and off-putting rip in his ear, and teeth that had never seen a dentist. He had slipped over to her, whispering to her. He had started by saying that she was much too young to be stuck on double chores, probably just trying to be friendly and warm up to her. Marie was a little creeped out, but as long as he didn't touch her, she wouldn't show any distaste towards him. She wasn't in the mood, so she just glanced up at him momentarily and perked her ears slightly to show that she was listening before resuming her job.

 _"You know what you are, right?"_ She glanced at him again, feeling all the more weirded out by the second. _"You're not wanted. You've never been wanted. Accept that now, and maybe you'll survive."_

And then, he was gone. Just up and left her there, staring with a terrified expression. She didn't see him the rest of the day, and she didn't see him the day after, or the day after that. For a while, she believed he had simply vanished into thin air, or that she had merely dreamt him up in her exhaustion from a particularly long couple of weeks. She didn't tell Callie because she was having a hard time processing the event and the fact that she had never seen him prior or after, and she wasn't sure how her older cousin would react to it. Just as she was thinking that she would have to just forget it happened at all, while she was passing by the main office one day, she managed to overhear some of the adults talking.

_"The boy with the nick in his ear?"_

_"You don't remember his name, do you? But, uh, yeah… Anyway, we haven't seen him or anyone he's been seen commonly associating with in about a week now. If we keep losing kids, we're going to get in trouble with the state."_

He had been real, it seemed, and he had run away at that. She found that she wasn't all that surprised; he had seemed so bitter and quiet when talking to her, and his appearance indicated that he was entirely likely to do such a thing.

Even though the boy had been something of a jerk and she knew she shouldn't necessarily take his words to heart, she couldn't help but realize he wasn't wrong. She had figured out long before that day that she wasn't exactly popular she began to close herself off from other people, thinking that she was being a nuisance. And as she observed from a distance, she discovered that no one really seemed to care about her sudden lack interaction with others. And because no one cared, she kept doing it, talking to Callie and only Callie. Unsurprisingly, the fact that she wasn't talked about by others and the fact that she talked to the one person that did possibly care about her existence meant that word never reached Callie of her cousin's silence outside of her presence. And thus, unaware that there was a problem in the first place, the one person who would ever want to do something about it could not.

This had an odd positive effect, though. Because she effectively kept her head down and her mouth shut, the staff noticed her less on the whole, and therefore she was considered less of a nuisance than the other undesired children. And because she was less of a nuisance, she was effectively placed in this odd spot between wanted and unwanted, not scowled at but not praised, not given the worst chores but still commonly stuck on double duty anyway.

This in and of itself had its negatives, however, ultimately ending in a net loss for her. Because of her placement in that awkward middle ground, neither major groups, the wanted and the unwanted, would associate with her. The wanteds still saw her as a poor useless lump and the unwanted were jealous of the fact that she wasn't getting any of the really dirty jobs.

At least she still had her cousin…

Over the next couple of years, she proceeded to piece together how the staff reacted according to various situations and what method got the most favorable reaction. For example, there was a sort of invisible checklist she'd figured out regarding her general actions. The exact order was: if she wasn't sleeping, she was at school, if she wasn't sleeping or the previous, she was doing homework, if she wasn't doing homework or the previous, she was doing chores, if she wasn't doing chores or the previous, she was with Callie, but this condition could only be accepted if the pink squid was on free time. And if none of the above was true, then she was doing something wrong and needed to be course corrected. And the best way to react to being caught doing nothing without it being 'Callie time' was to issue a quick apology, tell them that she would then go and do homework, and follow through with that promise, because they would check up on her later. At some point she swore she heard one of them say that they were "keeping you kids busy for your sake," but she really wasn't sure what that meant, or if such a thing could even hold water considering how apathetic she had become since her arrival.

Putting together a mental list of how other people acted around her whenever they had to interact with her for one reason or another was much more difficult than it was for the staff. The older unwanteds had a tendency to run away, act completely counter to her expectations after she thought she had them down, fly completely under her radar or take a mere glance as a slight, and in one truly bizarre instance, all of these in pretty rapid succession. The older wanteds were adopted not long after she had time to begin accounting for them. The younger wanteds tended to be bratty and unpredictable in an almost predictable manner that she had yet to wrap her head around still. The younger unwanteds had a tendency to suddenly switch between being quiet and sulky and loud and confrontational, and the only way to figure what mood they were in was to talk to them and see if they immediately explode. And of course, each group had their exceptions, the ones that who she had down without question.

Seeing as she was quiet and what she was pretty sure was considered decently well mannered, especially for her given status, she was actually surprised that she wasn't allowed to move up into wanted territory. She never threw a fit like some of the wanteds, not even when she first arrived, when she was well and truly desperate to be back in her mother's arms and unable to do more than sit around and cry because that would never happen again.

 **They just hate you** , the nagging voice in the back of her mind insisted time and again. And really, that wasn't an invalid train of thought. Because yeah, her not getting treated like she was worth anything didn't necessarily seem to be for any valid reason, not at this point. The best thing she could come up with was just because she wasn't Callie. She wasn't the one that was always smiling, and so of course she would be swept away as best as possible, drowned out so her presence wouldn't weigh down her cousin.

Marie did what she could to ignore this voice, but it didn't always work. It told the truth, no matter how hard it was to accept that reality, in the end she could never deny it. Even so, she tried to drown it out or pretend it wasn't there the majority of the time. Truth be told, she wasn't even sure when it appeared, so she mostly just ignored it and hoped it would go away. It had been growing in strength, though, these past couple of months, so that task was steadily becoming harder, especially after a bad day, where it was practically booming, reverberating in her skull and drowning everything else out. No one would care if she told anyone about it. They'd probably just say it's just another reason she would never be wanted. So she didn't, and she wouldn't.

She slipped into the room she and Callie had been provided (they were together mostly because Callie begged them to allow it), not bothering to close the door because if she did she knew the workers would know that she was there anyway and automatically assume she was slacking off, leading to them bursting in and being quite cross with her. She seated herself on her bed and pulled the necessary materials out of her bag, starting to read some book she'd grabbed pretty much at random in the library. To be honest, it was a bit complicated and not even something she wanted to read. She didn't really get what was going on at all. Some kid and a dragon and what in the world was a Fero? She wasn't even sure when she had gotten lost.

Confusion dragged a sigh from her lips. She was mostly skimming words at this point, not able to understand the story .being told here. Idly, she tugged at her increasingly unkempt tentacles. When they had last been washed, let alone cut, she didn't know. What used to be shining milk-white and bright lime-green was turning an ugly cloud-grey and dulled sage-green. The fact that she hadn't washed them in a long time was really on her; she hadn't felt the motivation to do anything about what her tentacles were turning into, and no one forced her to do a thing. Meanwhile, the fact that they were well past shoulder length really wasn’t something she could control Trips to the nearest hairdresser tended to be inconsistent, and it was easy to miss the memo and end up not going at all. They mostly occurred during the free time right after chore time; however, it was usually those days that the particularly desired children were given time off to ensure that they got to go, with the undesired children being stuck on double duty. It was rare to get both sets done in time. Marie didn't mind, really. Getting your tentacles cut hurt since they had nerves just like any other limb. Besides, tugging on one of the growing lengths was becoming a calming habit of hers. It allowed her to get out frustration in a less destructive way than throwing a fit.

She looked up when she heard quick footsteps storming for their room. Callie practically jumped through the doorway, a wide smile on her face that only brightened when she saw her cousin.

"Marie!" She bounded towards the younger child, grabbing her hands and pulled her along in a happy dance. The book that had been in her hands clattered to the floor. "I can't believe it, it's happening! It's happening!"

"Callie, calm down," Marie breathed, managing to rip herself away from her cousin's motions. She had to take a moment to orient herself, thrown completely off by her cousin's excitement.

Callie did as requested, but then started to rapidly change forms. The sight, for a brief moment, stunned Marie. She hadn't seen that set of movements in years. A smile tugged on her lips involuntarily, and despite still not knowing what was making her dear cousin so excited, she proceeded to mimic her. Little bits of green and pink ink scattered across the floor, soon to be dissolved in the air, but for now a fine show of two children enjoying themselves.

Marie found that the rapid actions left her winded easily, not to mention dizzy, and she had to stop soon after. How Callie ever managed to do it for long periods baffled her. Trying to not show just how much her partaking took out of her tired body, she asked, "So, uh, what's this about?"

"I'm getting adopted!"

The smile slipped from Marie's face. "W-What?"

Callie didn't seem to notice the distress quickly overtaking her cousin. "Yeah!" She tackled Marie in a tight hug. "I get to go home today! I'm so excited!"

"Today…?" Had the whole process occurred without Callie even knowing about it?

 **Don't cry** , the little voice whispered in the back of her head. Usually this voice was negative, but this… was actual advice, and she felt inclined to follow it. Callie could deal with the nightmares with a family, she could do that little squid dance more often because she'd have someone to care for her… **Stop being such a wimp.**

By sheer force of will, Marie bit her lip and suppressed the shaking that threatened to consume her body, returning the hug full force. She didn't dare say a word, lest her voice crack and allow tears to spring forth in her eyes. Instead, she stared at the ground, at the little ink puddles they'd left behind. Callie's pink had dulled recently, a worrying sign of an approaching depression. And Marie knew, because she had watched her own ink turn first into a disturbingly blank color from the initial hurt of losing her parents, and as she slowly recovered from that, into an ugly grey-green sludge. It hadn't really gotten better than that, though, unfortunately. But there, on the ground, was a truly vibrant pink, something that could burn your eyes if it took up the whole room. She was happy, oh, so happy, and Marie wouldn't dare to take that away by revealing her sadness. Even if it meant losing her completely.

Callie suddenly pulled away and started dashing about the place, collecting her belongings. Marie watched her do this in silence for some time before it got to be too painful for her heart. At that point, she retrieved her book from the ground and climbed back onto the bed, moving her eyes across the words. The letters had gone foreign, though, and she didn't really register anything.

The older squid was rambling, and at some point the words, 'Don't worry, I'll write you' slipped into her ear and actually stuck in her brain, but from the sounds of it, it was more a passing comment than a real promise; it was not said in actual reassurance. Of course Callie didn't notice the blank stare her younger cousin gave her book, and of course she wouldn't make an effort to help make the transition smoother. She had no idea…

"You're being diligent!" Callie said, suddenly at Marie's side. The younger squid jerked a little at the sudden noise, not aware that her mind had disappeared to some other place and that she was now holding the novel with a death grip that threatened to destroy the pages. Hesitantly, she nodded and found that caused her cousin to lose interest and return to packing.

 **She doesn't care** , the voice whispered.

'She's just oblivious,' Marie shot back desperately. But, oh, who was she kidding? Callie was about to leave her all alone; surely she would understand the implications of that? She clearly wasn't running under some sort of assumption that they were being given the same home. She didn't tell Marie to get packing; she didn't say ' _We're_ getting adopted.'

And that hurt. Callie was unobservant to a stupid degree, but usually it wasn't nearly this bad. The only way that Marie's young mind could rationalize this was that she was too happy, so drunk on her joy that she failed to realize that five feet away, her only remaining relative was trying to come to terms with the fact that she was about to be left with no one to care about her. Because she knew, deep down, that she would never be wanted in the same way that Callie was. No matter how selfless, how quiet, how kind she could possibly be, she wouldn't ever be wanted, let alone needed…

She managed to realize that she needed get away from this before she cracked. She dropped her book onto the bed and walked stiffly out of the room even as Callie continued to rapid fire her excitement in verbal form, slipping into the nearest bathroom and shutting the door with shaking hands.

Tugging harshly on her tentacles, she leaned against the door and tried to take deep breaths before she actually broke down. Somehow, she managed to keep her tears in, but she did nearly pass out from hyperventilation.

She wasn't sure how long she was there, but when she managed to drag herself out, still trembling slightly but figuring that this particular aspect wouldn't pass for another couple hours, Callie was gone. Her bed was a mess, but that didn't change the fact that her limited possessions weren't there anymore.

She didn't say goodbye.

 **Don't pretend to be hurt** , the voice chided. **You knew this was coming. Not even just from today. You've known it for years now.**

And it hurt so much to admit, but she couldn't deny that once again, the voice spoke the truth. The second the words came from Callie's mouth, Marie knew what was coming. The second she had realized that she was not a priority for the orphanage, she knew that this separation was bound to happen.

 **You've been abandoned!** The voice yelled, seemingly enraged on her behalf.

Numbly, she looked around the room, taking in the sudden emptiness of it all. The only thing of interest now was the two contrasting puddles of ink in front of her bed, one a vibrant pink and the other a dulled but still happy green. The small squid was scared to know what her ink had become now. She was not about to check.

She forced her body to move, to sit on her bed and grab the book again. **Look busy, don't allow them to see reason to give you more to do**. The best advice she'd ever gotten, from herself or otherwise.

But keeping herself busy didn't stop the whimper from escaping her closed throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Heads up, this story can have a tone problem. Sometimes it's happy and fluffy like the first chapter, mostly once the other mains come in with their best attempts to love the depression right out, and other times it's 'sad child feels the world is conspiring against her' like the second chapter, and it may jump from one to the other several times in a chapter without me really meaning to?
> 
> However, it's sorta me projecting in a way, taking my own experiences with self worth problems and the like, and then cranking it up to a level that feels appropriate to the situation. So I wouldn't notice sometimes because the situations bleed into themselves.
> 
> But mostly the story is just depressing, I think, and I just don't notice it anymore because the story itself makes me weirdly content.


End file.
